We know… it’s just sooo cliched… but as we’re walking around Seattle, we can’t get the theme song from Frazier out of our heads. The producers of that classic sitcom did little to evoke the city in their scripts, but they did set a lot of scenes in a coffee shop. And if there’s one thing the Queen Ann section of town has it’s coffee shops… on every corner and in between… wedged into the bottom of office buildings, apartments… we even saw a small coffee shop inside a coffee shop… just in case you run out of coffee on the way to your table. (Okay, we lied about that one.)

As we strolled around the neighborhood, we realized that it’s rare any more to work at a club that’s actually located in a city proper. So many of the clubs have migrated to the burbs. In strip malls, in hotels, anywhere, it seems, but in or near the heart of a downtown. We took off up the hill on Queen Ann Ave., investigating rumors of a Trader Joe’s. We eventually found it. Just one more of the amenities of staying downtown! (Mind you, we got nothing against those strip mall clubs, but it’s nice, once in a while, to have three or four Thai restaurants within walking distance of the hotel… or sixteen coffee shops… or three Indian joints… or three used CD stores… or the station for the Monorail!

“When I die, I’m donating my body to science fiction.”

Or the Science Fiction Museum, which is where we went yesterday! On the way out of the exhibit portion of the museum, on a wall of quotes about science fiction from famous people was the above quote from Steven Wright. The museum is located a couple blocks away from our hotel, just a few hundred yards from the Space Needle and all the other groovy stuff erected on the site that was the epicenter of the 1962 World’s Fair.

We had dinner last night at Ten Mercer (see illustration at left) with Mainstage’s Beka Barry and Robin Hordon, former talent coordinator of the defunct Catch A Rising Star that was located on Cambridge Square for 3 or 4 years, back in the late 80s/early 90s. Dinner was wonderful! We recommend the establishment!

Stopping by last night were Brad Upton (pictured above, on the left), Billy Wayne Davis (pictured with Brad Upton), Monti Carlo (afternoon drive DJ on Movin’ 92.5) and Jeff Dye. The green room was packed! (And it’s actually a V.I.P. Lounge… entry by non-coms is strictly controlled!) In spite of the light house, a good time was had. Davis, Monti Carlo and Dye rounded out the bill with Barry hosting. The staff could not be nicer– The Male Half requested only a coffee but was told that, due to some opening night jitters, there was not one bean in the house! Staffer Karen quickly rushed to a nearby Starbucks (aren’t they all?) and a “venti” was purchased! (That would be that “rock star” treatment that Barry is committed to heaping on the standup talent here at Mainstage!)